Tag Archives: acl injury

Holly B. is an active professional in her late twenties who spends her free time playing recreational flag football and league basketball. She shares her experience with us as she explores the world of sports.

Wow, it’s hard to believe that we’re creeping up on the one year mark of my ACL reconstruction surgery. For the last few months I’ve been trying to battle the last part recovery – rebuilding and developing my quad muscles back to where they were before surgery.

When I look at my legs side by side, it’s almost disappointing to see how strong my right leg looks compared to my left. I still have trouble going down stairs… my left leg starts to tremble a bit as it bears the full weight of my body. The worst of it is that sometimes my left knee “clicks”, because the kneecap isn’t moving the right way because of the muscle atrophy.

Luckily, places like BetterBraces.com offer products such as patella tracking braces that help my knee joint move properly as I continue my rehabilitation. They help lift my patella back into proper position as I move my knee and perform the key exercises I need to re-strengthen my knee. I’m excited to really push my conditioning these next couple of months so I can get back to playing basketball with my women’s league! The confidence that the knee brace gives me definitely helps me move forward with my exercise.

Holly B. is an active professional in her late twenties who spends her free time playing recreational flag football and league basketball. She recently tore her ACL and will be sharing her experiences with us as she works towards getting back into sports.

Like most accidents, you never think it’s going to happen to you… until it does.

You’re healthy, you’re active – what could go wrong?

That was me before I tore my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) when playing flag football. One moment I was blocking a linebacker, the next moment I was on the ground holding my knee.

I was lucky compared to most people who tear their ACL. I wasn’t in much pain, but I knew that my knee instability would prevent me from playing. What hurt was that it was the third play of first game of the day. But even that wasn’t what hurt me the most. Here’s what really pained me:

That’s right. I had an ACL knee brace in my gym bag but I didn’t wear it because I didn’t think I needed it.

Now it’ll be about a year before I’m playing basketball and football again, after all the orthopedic doctor appointments and surgery recovery. Once I’m back on my feet you can bet that I’ll be wearing a knee brace when playing sports!